Sugarbeeters head to North-East B Divisional track meet

One down, one to go. That is what the Chinook High School track and field team is facing as they head to the North-East B divisional track meet in Great Falls on Saturday afternoon.

The Beeter girls team is coming off of a third place finish at the District 2B meet last weekend and they will now look to improve on the momentum they have built all season as they try to qualify as many athletes to the Class B state meet as possible.

"I think we have a real good chance of doing well this weekend," said Chinook head coach Mark Roseberry. "Even though we only placed third at districts, we have girls who are competing in multiple events and they are all capable of scoring a lot of points for us at divisionals."

Chinook is paced by one of the top jumpers in the state in sophomore Crystal Roseberry. She captured both the long jump and the triple jump this past weekend and is poised to do the same in Great Falls.

Throwers Brittany Williams and Kelsey Crampton are also expected to vie for top honors in the shot put and discus just as they did at the district meet.

"Fortunately we are really strong in the jumps and the throws," Roseberry said. "We can also get some points from our two relay teams if they come together his weekend as well."

Chinook also got a big boost in the sprints last weekend as Georgia Barber and Whitney Lybeck both qualified in the 200 meters. They are both also entered in the high jump and Lybeck will also compete in the 100 meters.

While the Beeters have some talent heading to Great Falls on Saturday, they are obviously not alone. Roseberry believes that Conrad should be the favorite to win the girls meet and Plentywood, Malta and Cut Bank could also contend as well.

"We have a very tough division on the girls side. There are a lot of really solid teams out there," Roseberry said. "But even though we aren't going to be the deepest team in the field, we also have some very tough athletes and if we score the amount of points I think we're capable of we could surprise some people."

While the Chinook girls team is expected to continue to do well throughout the postseason. The same might not be said for the Beeter boys. Chinook placed last at the District 2B meet last weekend and they advanced just three boys into the divisional meet.

Leading the way for Chinook is Kelan Broadhead and Chad Beck. Broadhead qualified in the 400 meters while Beck will compete in the 3,200-meter race and the triple jump. Chinook also has a talented thrower heading to the divisional meet in John Dawson. Dawson will compete in both the shot put and the discus. While the Beeters may be short on numbers, Roseberry said that all three competitors stand to do very well this weekend.

"I think all three of our boys have a good chance of going to state," Roseberry said. "Chad Beck is a very talented sophomore who hasn't even reached his full potential yet. And John Dawson should be right in the thick of things in both of the throws."

The North-East B Divisional track meet will get under way at 10 A.M. on Saturday. All of the action will take place